It was February 1997 when 2/3 of Placebo made their appearance in the then highly popular British magazine Q with a full-page photo of them. They had formed about two and a half years earlier, and in November 1995 they managed to release a single on the Fierce Panda label.

The A side featured their song Bruise Pristine, while the B side included Meltdown by Soup. Shortly after, they signed with Deceptive and after some live performances, in February 1996 they released the seven-inch Come Home / Drowning By Numbers (the CD also included Oxygen Thief), which peaked at number three on the independent music chart.

Meanwhile, they had released their first album as a trio, but the stable members at that time were only two: the American Brian Molko (born December 10, 1972) and the Swede Stefan Olsdal (born March 31, 1974), who lived together in an apartment in the Queen’s Park area of London. It had not been long since they were receiving unemployment benefits, and now they were on their way to becoming superstars.

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